Markup

H.R.
3680, TO AMEND THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA-

TION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1998 WITH RESPECT TO
THE ADJUSTMENT OF COMPOSITE THEORETICAL PERFORM-
ANCE LEVELS OF HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTERS
MARKUP
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY AND TRADE
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
APRIL 6, 2000
Serial No. 106154
Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations
(
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/internationalrelations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

67608 CC WASHINGTON : 2000
VerDate 11-MAY-2000 15:51 Nov 09, 2000 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 67608.TXT HINTREL1 PsN: HINTREL1
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, New York, Chairman
WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania SAM GEJDENSON, Connecticut
JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California
HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois HOWARD L. BERMAN, California
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American
DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa
ELTON GALLEGLY, California MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey
CASS BALLENGER, North Carolina ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois CYNTHIA A. MCKINNEY, Georgia
EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida
PETER T. KING, New York PAT DANNER, Missouri
STEVEN J. CHABOT, Ohio EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama
MARSHALL MARK SANFORD, South BRAD SHERMAN, California
Carolina ROBERT WEXLER, Florida
MATT SALMON, Arizona STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey
AMO HOUGHTON, New York JIM DAVIS, Florida
TOM CAMPBELL, California EARL POMEROY, North Dakota
JOHN M. McHUGH, New York WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
KEVIN BRADY, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina BARBARA LEE, California
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
GEORGE RADAVANOVICH, Califorina JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana
THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado
RICHARD J. GARON, Chief of Staff
MICHAEL H. VAN DUSEN, Democratic Chief of Staff
JOHN P. MACKEY, Republican Investigative Counsel
PARKER BRENT, Staff Associate
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY AND TRADE

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chairman
DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey
STEVEN J. CHABOT, Ohio PAT DANNER, Missouri
KEVIN BRADY, Texas EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama
GEORGE RADANOVICH, California BRAD SHERMAN, California
JOHN COOKSEY, Louisiana STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey
DOUG BEREUTER, Nebraska WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts
DANA ROHRABACHER, California JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York
TOM CAMPBELL, California JOSEPH M. HOEFFEL, Pennsylvania
RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
MAURICIO TAMARGO, Subcommittee Staff Director
JODI CHRISTIANSEN, Democratic Professional Staff Member
YLEEM POBLETE, Professional Staff Member
VICTOR MALDONADO, Staff Associate
(II)
CONTENTS
Page
Markup on H.R. 3680, to amend the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 1998 with respect to the adjustment of composite theoretical
performance levels of high performance computers .......................................... 1
APPENDIX
Prepared statements:
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from Flor-

ida, and Chair, Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade,
Committee on International Relations ............................................................... 8
The Honorable Donald A. Manzullo, a Representative in Congress from Illi-
nois ........................................................................................................................ 10
Bill:
H.R. 3680 .................................................................................................................. 13
(III)
H.R. 3680, TO AMEND THE NATIONAL
DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL
YEAR 1998 WITH RESPECT TO THE ADJUST-
MENT OF COMPOSITE THEORETICAL PER-
FORMANCE LEVELS OF HIGH PERFORM-
ANCE COMPUTERS
THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2000
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC
POLICY AND TRADE,
COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:10 p.m., in room
2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
(Chair of the Subcommittee) presiding.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. This Subcommittee will come to order.
American ingenuity, creativity and talent has throughout the
centuries spiraled the United States into a position of global lead-
ership. It has enabled us to adapt and build upon economic, polit-
ical and social changes to usher in a new era of prosperity and op-
portunity.
Just as Eli Whitneys cotton gin served as the catalyst for the In-
dustrial Revolution, the computer industry responsible for one-
third or real economic growth continues to serve as the driving
force behind the incredible commercial expansion that the U.S. is
now enjoying. However, it cannot continue this unparalleled trend
unless it is able to innovate and compete in new markets. This goes
to the heart of the legislation that we are considering today.
H.R. 3680, introduced by our House colleagues David Dreier and
Zoe Lofgren takes into account emerging threats and security con-
siderations by maintaining a limited waiting period. Nevertheless
it offers a practical, judicious and realistic solution to the chal-
lenges faced by our computer industry by reducing the Congres-
sional review period from 180 to 30 days. H.R. 3680 would make
the waiting period more reasonable and bring it into line with
other review periods for changing national security export controls.
Currently, for example, there is a 30-day waiting period estab-
lished by Congress to remove articles from the munitions list, a list
of Defense articles and services that are subject to export controls
including such items as artillery, launch vehicles, missiles, rockets,
torpedoes, warship, aircraft, and tanks. Yet we maintain a 180-day
waiting period for exports of supercomputers.
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2
From a practical perspective it does not make any sense for mili-
tary items or arms transfers to require less time for Congressional
review than that which is required for supercomputers. These prod-
ucts and technology have broad commercial application and an in-
novative cycle or life cycle of less than 3 months. If we do not re-
duce the waiting period and expedite the process for our computer
industry, we will have a situation where new export controls will
be out of date by the time they are approved.
For example, the new policy announced by the Administration on
February 1st of this year will be an anachronism by the time the
current 6-month review period expires on August 1st. It is impos-
sible for computer export control policy to keep pace with the ever-
changing technological and market realities unless we pass H.R.
3680 to reduce Congressional review to 30 days.
We need to avoid a repetition of recent events. For example, last
Fall Apple Computers began marketing its new single processor
personal computer whose power exceeded the computer export con-
trol threshold in effect at that time. However, Apple was unable to
sell any of these new systems because the adjustment made by
July of last year did not become effective until January, 2000. IBM
was in a similar situation with its new Aptiva personal computer
line.
H.R. 3680 is a bipartisan bill which provides immediate relief for
the computer industry, an industry which is conducting landmark,
cutting edge work to maintain U.S. technological leadership. H.R.
3680 maintains the delicate balance between national security and
market considerations while providing a more responsive, realistic
approach to export controls on supercomputers.
I am proud to be a cosponsor of this measure, and I am encour-
aged by the fact that all the majority Subcommittee Members have
also rendered their support as cosponsors, and that person needs
some Florida orange juice for Dana, and I am proud to recognize
Mr. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, our Ranking Member. Thank
you, Bob.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Ros-Lehtinen appears in the ap-
pendix.]
Mr. MENENDEZ. Thank you, Madam Chairlady, and I am glad we
are holding this markup. I would have hoped that the legislation
would be as futuristic as the room is and would have a few more
things to it, but at least we are doing something.
Madam Chairlady, the Republicans impromptu inclusion of a
180-day Congressional notification period for increasing the
MTOPS level for export sales in the 1998 National Defense Author-
ization Act handicapped the American computer industry. A 180-
day review period has made it impossible for the U.S. Government
to respond quickly to the latest advances in computer processing
technology.
Last summer for example, new personal computers introduced by
Apple and IBM surpassed the MTOPS level for exports for Tier 3
countries like Israel and Egypt. It was not until after the 180 day
notification period ended in January that these computers were al-
lowed to be sold without a license.
Later this year Intel is expected to introduce the Itanium chip
that will allow a computer that uses four chips to operate at nearly
3
23,000 MTOPS, a level that exceeds current policy for export sales
to Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries. In the computer industry, where the
average shelf-life of a computer is no more than 18 months and
probably closer to 12, a 6-month delay in sales is a very long time,
particularly when overseas competitors are nipping at the heels of
American companies.
For this reason I strongly support this legislation. However, I am
disappointed that this legislation only addresses the MTOPS notifi-
cation period. The legislation does not address other NDAA-derived
problems like the 120-day notification period for moving countries
between tiers and burdensome post-shipment verification require-
ments.
More importantly, while this bill fixes one problem, it is not a
substitute for reauthorizing the EAA and updating our Cold War
export control policies.
I intended to offer amendments today to address these issues,
but in the interest of the bills passage in the House I have decided
to withhold at this stage from offering any amendments. It is un-
fortunate that there are those who cannot see clear to making
these very important changes that would ensure Americas contin-
ued leadership in the computer industry.
Americas industry deserves laws that are responsive to todays
global economy and not laws that were created over two decades
ago to respond to Cold War era threats.
I know that the Chairlady shares my view that in order to sus-
tain our leadership in the global economy we must take action. I
hope that she and other enlightened Members of the Republican
caucus can talk to some of their colleagues about the importance
of reauthorizing the EAA. No one in the Congress is advocating for
changes that would undermine our national security, but rather for
policy changes that would ensure our national security while also
streamlining our export control laws to focus on those countries
and those exports that are of greatest concern to our nation.
It is our obligation to address this issue and to ensure that our
laws reflect what is in the best interest of our nation. Failure to
do so keeps the Congress and its legitimate role out of the issue
and cedes it to the executive branch, so instead of this piecemeal
approach, we should consider comprehensive legislation, namely
the EAA, to reform our export control laws, but I do urge for the
purposes of solving part of our problems that our colleagues sup-
port todays legislation. Thank you.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Menendez. Mr.
Rohrabacher, Mr. Crowley, do you have opening statements?
Mr. CROWLEY. Yes.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Yes, Mr. Crowley.
Mr. CROWLEY. Thank you, Madam Chairman.
I am here today to speak in support of H.R. 3680 to amend the
National Defense Authorization Act and reduce the waiting period
for the export of computers from 180 days to 30 days. I am proud
to cosponsor this legislation, which will enable American high tech
companies to compete effectively around the world.
Currently the NDAA requires a 6-month waiting period before
the Administration can update Tier 3 countries export control
laws. When NDAA went into effect in 1998 the bill targeted com-
4
puters that operated above 2000 MTOPS. Todays personal com-

puters operate in the 4000 MTOPS range and office servers in the
12,000 MTOP range.
The current 6-month waiting period clearly does not make sense
for products that have a 3-month innovation cycle and are widely
available from our foreign competitors. I know that some of my col-
leagues think that this legislation is not going far enough. I agree
with them and I am looking forward to working with my distin-
guished colleagues on this Subcommittee to overhaul the U.S. ex-
port control system in a more comprehensive manner, but we also
have to realize how time-sensitive the passage of H.R. 3680 is.
The new Intel microprocessor, the Itanium, will be available at
midyear. A four-way Itanium processor computer is projected to
perform above 22,000 MTOPS, therefore the recent update to a
threshold of 12,500 MTOPS will already be out of date when it
takes effect.
Make no mistake, our current economic boom relies heavily on
the information technology industry. The IT sector contributed
about 35 percent to U.S. economic growth in recent years and for-
eign sales are crucial to that success, but our broken export control
system threatens to cost the computer industry valuable sales in
some of the most critical markets in the world.
We should concentrate our resources on controlling real super-
computers and not waste them on controlling widely available busi-
ness computers. This bipartisan legislation is supported by the Ad-
ministration and the computer industry, and I urge my colleagues
to vote in favor of it today.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much, Mr. Crowley.
Hillel, if you could pass on to the Chairman our deep dissatisfac-
tion. I had told all the Subcommittee Members that our images
would be portrayed as rock stars on this giant screen before us, but
alas, it is not to be, and I was practicing my air guitar all morning.
Mr. CROWLEY. Madam Chair, I just want to let you know, I think
you are a rock star, no matter whether you are on the screen or
not.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Awthank you. Hes good. Hes good.
Pursuant to notice, the Subcommittee will now turn to the con-
sideration of H.R. 3680, which the Staff Director will report, Mr.
Tamargo.
Mr. TAMARGO. H.R. 3680, a bill to amend the National Defense
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1998 with respect to the adjust-
ment of composite theoretical performance levels of high perform-
ance computers.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection, the Clerk will read the
text of the bill.
Mr. TAMARGO. To amend the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 1998 with respect to the adjustment of composite
theoretical performance levels of high performance computers. Be
in enacted by the
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Without objection, the bill is considered as
having been read and is open to amendment at this point.
5
Are there any amendments? If there are no amendments, the

Chair will put the question on favorably reporting the bill to the
full Committee.
So many who are in favor of the question, say aye.
[Chorus of ayes.]
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. So many who are opposed, say no.
[No response.]
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes have
it and the bill will be forwarded to the full Committee.
[The bill appears in the appendix.]
I thank the Members for their cooperation, and before we ad-
journ I would like to recognize Mr. Bereuter for some statements
and we will be in touch with Chairman Gilman about prompt con-
sideration of this measure in the full Committee next Thursday,
April 13th.
Mr. Bereuter.
Mr. BEREUTER. Madam Chairman, I have no comment. I just
want to commend you on being so expeditious and I was happy to
get here in time for the vote.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Thank you so much.
The Subcommittee will stand in recess subject to the call of the
Chair. Thank you.
[Whereupon, at 2:25 p.m., the Subcommittee adjourned subject to
the call of the Chair.]
A P P E N D I X
APRIL 6, 2000
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H.R.

3680, TO AMEND THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZA-

Serial No. 106154

Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY AND TRADE

The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Representative in Congress from Flor-

H.R. 3680 .................................................................................................................. 13

THURSDAY, APRIL 6, 2000

puters that operated above 2000 MTOPS. Todays personal com-

Are there any amendments? If there are no amendments, the

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